This sounded good and they sold a lot of mills on the strength of it; but the wind that came from them would blow the sawyer out of the mill unless the wheel was boxed in, and finally it happened that a saw came off and the wheel did not meet with resistance enough to stop itself, but kept on going, and that burst the bubble.
Attention is also directed to the fact that the combination of a circular saw with a band saw, as in the Stearns’ mill, was adopted by the Allis Company.
Second Band Saw Mill of E. P. Allis & Co.
Improved Reliance Band Saw Mill of E. P. Allis & Co. Advertised in the Southern Lumberman, January 1, 1889, as the “best on earth.” This mill they continued to build until 1892. It shows metallic wheels and supporting arms outside of them as in the Stearns mills.
Band Saw Mill of Benjamin & Fischer
Feby. 14, 1885, The Northwestern Lumberman caused a shiver to run through the mechanical world by publishing an account of “A New Entry,” and showing two illustrations of a Band Mill for sawing logs invented by Mr. Benjamin of the firm of Benjamin & Fischer of Chicago, Ill. It was extensively advertised, and really was an ingenious mill. It was intended to correct the defects existing in other mills which had made such crooked lumber, cracked saws, and performed all sorts of mischief, which they really had, and there was no doubt about it.
Apart from the fact that the lower wheel was much larger in diameter than the top wheel, the main distinguishing feature in the Benjamin mill was the application of a ball centrifugal governor to automatically adjust a tightener pulley impinging on the back side of the saw to instantly take up and prevent a slack from going over to the tight side and thereby making snakey, crooked lumber.
One of these mills was erected at Chicago. A car of logs was brought there and many prominent mill men were invited to see the mill at work. A large number attended; but the mill did not satisfy any of them. There was just one thing Mr. Benjamin did not take into account, namely, a governor cannot act until there is a perceptible increase or diminution in the speed of an engine or a machine; consequently in a band mill it got in its work too late to stop the mischief. The mill never went into general service. Its wheels were of wood with rubber faces.